Everything Must Go

There is a gorgeous mixture of introspection and life-affirming tunes on this album. The most crucial line comes on the best song, Enola/Alone: "All I wanna do is live, no matter how miserable it is". Amidst the beautiful minor chord crunch that accompanies it, it's easy to get swept away in the emotion that you feel Nicky must have felt during the abyss of '95. No Surface All Feeling is in a similar vein with very calming vocals and it's a great sign-off, thought-provoking, sad, hopeful - even though it was written pre-disappearance. Also, the two understated and lovely acoustic numbers, Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky and Removables, are sparse and delicate gems. Two fantastic Richey lyrics accompanied first by a harp driven and morose melody and then a more cynical Nirvana Unplugged-style acoustic strum.

I would be hard pushed to point out any weak moments. Australia is the only song that lacks the mellow, bittersweet alter-ego of all Manics' songs with a lot of light but a disappointing amount of shade. Everything Must Go treads a thin line between epic and emotionless but just comes out on the right side.

This is the sound of a heart beating, despite tragedy, despite disaster and amazed and grateful to be alive despite all the odds.

But 'Design For Life' isn't the only triumph on the album. 'Enola/Alone', 'Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky' and the title track are all amazing tracks. In fact, the title track is this albums equivalent of 'This is Yesterday' from the previous album as a look into exactly how the band are feeling at the time. In this song they address the problem I mentioned earlier, where bands continue after a disaster and either lose their ability, or else the fans turn against them. They address the Cult of Richey who they know will hate them for daring to carry on without the missing guitarist with the beautiful lyrics 'freed from our memory, escape from our history, and I just hope that you can forgive us, but everything must go'. They know that people will see this album as a betrayal of Richey but they also know that its what he would have wanted, so they bite the bullet and make that unpopular decision.

Some might call this album an MOR flop, a shot at commercial success after the financial failures of 'Gold Against the Soul' and 'The Holy Bible'. However, it is so much more than that. Yes, the songs are accessible and most people you met on the street would be perfectly content to listen to this album. But the songs are still breathtakingly good and retain a dignity that MOR bands like Travis and Stereophonics simply don't have. Admittedly the Manics lost this dignity on the following two albums and have since become as dull and dreary as the bands they once shouted hatred upon, but that doesn't take away from this brilliant album that displays the minds of a band coming to terms with tragic loss and overwhelming despair.

Think of other bands that were popular at the time. Would they have survived without their most popular members? Radiohead without Thom Yorke or Jonny Greenwood? Pulp without Jarvis Cocker? Oasis without the Gallagher brothers? Only the Manic Street Preachers could pull it off. Forget Richey, 'The Holy Bible' was great, but this is better.